Feed aggregator

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

CUPERTINO, California — Apple on Monday charged into the artificial intelligence craze with a new iPhone lineup that marks the company's latest attempt to latch onto a technology trend and transform it into a cultural phenomenon.  The four different iPhone 16 models will all come equipped with special chips needed to power a suite of AI tools that Apple hopes will make its marquee product even more indispensable and reverse a recent sales slump.  Apple's AI features are designed to turn its often-blundering virtual assistant Siri into a smarter and more versatile sidekick, automate a wide range of tedious tasks, and pull off other crowd-pleasing tricks such as creating customized emojis within seconds.  After receiving a standing ovation for Monday's event, Apple CEO Tim Cook promised the AI package would unleash "innovations that will make a true difference in people's lives."  But the breakthroughs won't begin as soon as the new iPhones — ranging in price from $800 to $1,200 — hit the stores on September 20.  Most of Apple's AI functions will roll out as part of a free software update to iOS 18, the operating system that will power the iPhone 16 rolling out from October through December. U.S. English will be the featured language at launch, but an update enabling other languages will come out next year, according to Apple.  It's all part of a new approach that Apple previewed at a developers conference three months ago to create more anticipation for a next generation of iPhones amid a rare sales slump for the well-known devices.  Since Apple's June conference, competitors such as Samsung and Google have made greater strides in AI — a technology widely expected to trigger the most dramatic changes in computing since the first iPhone came out 17 years ago.  Just as Apple elevated fledgling smartphones into a must-have technology in 21st-century society, the Cupertino, California, company is betting it can do something similar with its tardy arrival to artificial intelligence.  'Apple Intelligence'  To set itself apart from the early leaders in AI, the technology being baked into the iPhone 16 is being promoted as "Apple Intelligence." Despite the unique branding, Apple's new approach mimics many of the features already available in the Samsung Galaxy S24 released in January and the Google Pixel 9 that came out last month.  "Apple could have waited another year for further development, but initial take up of AI- powered devices from the likes of Samsung has been encouraging, and Apple is keen to capitalize on this market," said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore.  As it treads into new territory, Apple is trying to preserve its longtime commitment to privacy by tailoring its AI so that most of its technological tricks can be processed on the device itself instead of relying on giant banks of computers located in remote data centers. When a task needs to connect to a data center, Apple promises it will be done in a tightly controlled way that ensures that no personal data is stored remotely.  While corralling the personal information shared through Apple's AI tools inherently reduces the chances that the data will be exploited or misused against a user's wishes, it doesn't guarantee iron-clad security. A device could still be stolen, for instance, or hacked through digital chicanery.  For users seeking to access even more AI tools than being offered by the iPhone, Apple is teaming up with OpenAI to give users the option of farming out more complicated tasks to the popular ChatGPT chatbot.  Although Apple is releasing a free version of its operating system to propel its on-device AI features, the chip needed to run the technology is only available on the iPhone 16 lineup and the high-end iPhone 15 models that came out a year ago.  That means most consumers who are interested in taking advantage of Apple's approach to AI will have to buy one of the iPhone 16 models – a twist that investors are counting on will fuel a surge in demand heading into the holiday season.  The anticipated sales boom is the main reason Apple's stock price has climbed by more than 10%, including a slight uptick Monday after the shares initially slipped following the showcase for the latest iPhones.  Besides its latest iPhones, Apple also introduced a new version of its smartwatch that will include a feature to help detect sleep apnea as well the next generation of its wireless headphones, the AirPods Pro, that will be able to function as a hearing aid with an upcoming software update.

STOCKHOLM — An exiled Iranian opposition group said Monday that its offices in Stockholm were firebombed overnight, with police saying they had opened an investigation into arson.  According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the political wing of the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK), the building had been hit "with several Molotov cocktails" in what the group dubbed a "terrorist attack."  "Several windows of the building were shattered, and the outer wall caught fire," the NCRI said in a statement.  It said residents put out the fire and "no one was injured."  Police said in a statement they had opened an investigation into arson, but police spokeswoman Anna Westberg told AFP she could not comment on details about how the fire was started.  "We are still gathering information, and a technical examination will be done during the day," Westberg said, adding that no arrests had been made.  In its statement, the NCRI accused agents of Iran's intelligence service of carrying out the attack.  The MEK backed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the 1979 revolution that ousted the shah but swiftly went into opposition and was blamed for a series of deadly attacks that rocked Iran in the early 1980s.  The MEK has been exiled from Iran since then. It is far from having universal support among the Iranian diaspora but is backed by several high-profile former U.S. and European officials. 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — Smoke from intense wildfires in the Amazon rainforest and other parts of Brazil was choking major cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on Monday, and wafting into neighboring countries.  Karla Longo, a researcher at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), said that satellite images showed that 60% of Latin America's largest country had been affected by smoke.  "If we consider the areas affected in neighboring countries and in the Atlantic Ocean, the area affected on Sunday was around 10 million km2 [3.8 million square miles]," she added.  Authorities in Argentina and Uruguay reported smoke from Brazil's fires impacting parts of their countries on Monday.  Sao Paulo, the biggest city in Latin America, on Monday topped the ranking of the world's most polluted major cities, according to the air quality monitoring company IQAir.  The rate of fine particles in the air — a measure of air quality — reached 69 micrograms per cubic meter, almost 14 times higher than the limit recommended by the World Health Organization.  Residents of seaside city Rio de Janeiro were grappling with fine particle rates at five times the recommended limit.  Authorities blame human action for most of the recent fires in the country, which are often linked to agricultural activity.  The situation has been aggravated by the country's worst drought in seven decades, which experts attribute to climate change.  Satellite images from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed a thick cloud of gray smoke along the Andes Mountain range toward the south of the continent on Monday.  This is due to the "wind that channels the smoke towards the south,” meteorologist Estael Sias told AFP.  According to data from INPE, the number of fires in the Amazon since the beginning of the year has almost doubled compared to the same period in 2023.  Other regions of Brazil have been battling terrible wildfires in recent days.  The vast Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, known for its numerous dramatic waterfalls some 250 kilometers (155 miles) outside the capital Brasilia, has lost some 10,000 hectares of vegetation to flames in recent days.  Sias said the situation is not expected to improve "without regular rainfall,” which is not likely “before October or November.”

NEW YORK — James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, The Lion King and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93. His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York's Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear. The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor. He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of The Gin Game having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work. “The need to storytell has always been with us,” he told The Associated Press then. “I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him." Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in Field of Dreams, the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit The Great White Hope, the writer Alex Haley in Roots: The Next Generation and a South African minister in Cry, the Beloved Country. He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader (“No, I am your father,” commonly misremembered as “Luke, I am your father”), as well as the benign dignity of King Mufasa in Disney's animated The Lion King and announcing “This is CNN” during station breaks. He won a 1977 Grammy for his performance on the Great American Documents audiobook. “If you were an actor or aspired to be an actor, if you pounded the payment in these streets ... one of the standards we always had was to be a James Earl Jones,” Samuel L. Jackson once said. Some of his other films include Dr. Strangelove, The Greatest (with Muhammad Ali), Conan the Barbarian, Three Fugitives and playing an admiral in three Tom Clancy blockbuster adaptations — The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. In a rare romantic comedy, Claudine, Jones had an onscreen love affair with Diahann Carroll. Jones made his Broadway debut in 1958’s Sunrise At Campobello and would win his two Tony Awards for The Great White Hope (1969) and Fences (1987). He also was nominated for On Golden Pond (2005) and Gore Vidal’s The Best Man (2012). He was celebrated for his command of Shakespeare and Athol Fugard alike. More recent Broadway appearances include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Driving Miss Daisy, The Iceman Cometh, and You Can’t Take It With You. As a rising stage and television actor, he appeared in As the World Turns in 1965, one of the first Black actors to have such a role on daytime TV. He performed with the New York Shakespeare Festival Theater in Othello, Macbeth and King Lear and in off-Broadway plays. Early years Jones was born by the light of an oil lamp in a shack in Arkabutla, Mississippi, on Jan. 17, 1931. His father, Robert Earl Jones, had deserted his wife before the baby's arrival to pursue life as a boxer and, later, an actor. When Jones was 6, his mother took him to her parents' farm near Manistee, Michigan. His grandparents adopted the boy and raised him. “A world ended for me, the safe world of childhood,” Jones wrote in his autobiography, Voices and Silences. “The move from Mississippi to Michigan was supposed to be a glorious event. For me it was a heartbreak, and not long after, I began to stutter.” Too embarrassed to speak, he remained virtually mute for years, communicating with teachers and fellow students with handwritten notes. A sympathetic high school teacher, Donald Crouch, learned that the boy wrote poetry, and demanded that Jones read one of his poems aloud in class. He did so faultlessly. Teacher and student worked together to restore the boy’s normal speech. “I could not get enough of speaking, debating, orating — acting,” he recalled in his book. At the University of Michigan, he failed a pre-med exam and switched to drama, also playing four seasons of basketball. He served in the Army from 1953 to 1955. In New York, he moved in with his father and enrolled with the American Theater Wing program for young actors. Father and son waxed floors to support themselves while looking for acting jobs. True stardom came suddenly in 1970 with The Great White Hope. Howard Sackler’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play depicted the struggles of Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight boxing champion, amid the racism of early 20th-century America. In 1972, Jones repeated his role in the movie version and was nominated for an Academy Award as best actor. Jones’ two wives were also actors. He married Julienne Marie Hendricks in 1967. After their divorce, he married Cecilia Hart, best known for her role as Stacey Erickson in the CBS police drama Paris, in 1982. She died in 2016. They had a son, Flynn Earl, born in 1983. No artist 'has served America more' In 2022, the Cort Theater on Broadway was renamed after Jones, with a ceremony that included Norm Lewis singing "Go the Distance," Brian Stokes Mitchell singing "Make Them Hear You" and words from Mayor Eric Adams, Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson Jackson. “You can’t think of an artist that has served America more,” director Kenny Leon told the AP. “It’s like it seems like a small act, but it’s a huge action. It’s something we can look up and see that’s tangible.” Citing his stutter as one of the reasons he wasn’t a political activist, Jones nonetheless hoped his art could change minds. “I realized early on, from people like Athol Fugard, that you cannot change anybody’s mind, no matter what you do,” he told the AP. “As a preacher, as a scholar, you cannot change their mind. But you can change the way they feel.”

istanbul / washington — A requirement by Turkey’s media regulator for journalists on YouTube to have a broadcast license is being criticized as a way for authorities to more easily censor content. In a TV interview earlier this month, Ebubekir Sahin, the head of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, or RTUK, said that a 2019 regulation means that all broadcasts, including those on the internet, “are under our supervision.” The 2019 regulation authorized RTUK to request broadcast licenses from "media service providers," including media outlets and digital streaming platforms such as Netflix. But so far, the regulation has not been enforced for journalists who run their own YouTube channels. Sahin said in his interview, however, that the RTUK had met with YouTube’s Turkey office last month about the licensing requirement. Several journalists and media advocates view the move as censorship. “The initiative seems to aim to eradicate the original news and commentary on YouTube,” said Erol Onderoglu of Reporters Without Borders, or RSF. He added that the regulation could open the door to arbitrariness and censorship in Turkey. Blocked sites Access to the websites of VOA Turkish and German international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle have already been blocked in Turkey over not obtaining broadcast licenses from the regulator. To justify the decision, Sahin said that journalists who quit mainstream media and produce content on YouTube make unfair profit through commercials and their subscribers. “[A journalist] does not get along well with a TV channel and leaves. He goes and opens a [YouTube] channel where he broadcasts news from morning to night. He also gets huge commercials behind him. The accuracy of those commercials has not been checked, and they have not been approved by the Competition Board,” Sahin said. Sahin noted that several journalists who broadcast their own shows on YouTube have obtained licenses. But he did not disclose their names. The RTUK head said that the regulator would issue a broadcast license for 10 years and for an affordable price, but did not provide details. According to RTUK’s website, a broadcast license for TV or on-demand broadcasting on the internet costs approximately $18,970. VOA’s attempts to get comment from RTUK were unsuccessful. In response to an email request for comment, RTUK directed VOA to fill out a form providing personal information such as address and identity card number.  Gaining popularity News broadcasts via YouTube are gaining traction in Turkey, according to the June Reuters Institute’s Digital News report, with YouTube the most popular social media platform for accessing or sharing news.   “Over the last decade, a number of famous journalists have gained popularity by carving out a niche on platforms such as YouTube, with less oversight or interference from the government,” the report said. The report also pointed out a “long-standing media censorship climate in Turkey” which it said affects “freedom of discussion and debate in social media and video networks.” “If the authorities leave the watchdog role of journalists’ news and commentary-focused activities on YouTube to the censorship-oriented RTUK, this international online medium will be no different from any TV channel in Turkey that suffers from censorship,” Onderoglu told VOA. That censorship has prompted several journalists to look for alternative places to broadcast independent or opposition views. Unsal Unlu, who used to work for state-run TRT and privately owned stations NTV and HaberTurk, has been broadcasting on YouTube for nine years with the motto of “free journalism without patronage.” Unlu believes the regulator’s move to include YouTube broadcasts is aimed at furthering control over the media environment. “Sahin wants to imply an authority to control as he wishes. What is the reason? Because they cannot control social media,” Unlu told VOA. “Now they are trying to point the finger at YouTube broadcasters and create anxiety, perhaps even fear.” Problematic requirement Unlu, who has 163,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, said that he would not apply for a license. Ozlem Gurses, who hosted prime-time programs on several TV channels like ATV, HaberTurk, SkyTurk and Halk TV for nearly 30 years, opened her own YouTube channel four years ago. Gurses runs a channel with more than 530,000 followers on YouTube. She uses it to upload live daily broadcasts and commentary about the news. She told VOA the broadcast license requirement for journalists would be difficult. “It goes against the spirit of the times. They closed Instagram and lost votes. Because their own voters are there. The pious voters are reacting to these censorship and blocking efforts,” Gurses told VOA. “There is no regulation for this. The regulation referred to does not provide a definition for YouTube broadcasting. How will you determine the limits? Will it be the number of views, the number of subscribers, the income? Everything is uncertain,” Gurses said. Like Unlu, Gurses said she did not plan to apply for a license. This article originated in VOA’s Turkish Service.

beijing — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday urged visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to play a "constructive role" in improving strained ties between Bejing and the European Union.  Sanchez for his part said he hoped the EU could avoid a trade war with China, even as Brussels weighs imposing tariffs on China-manufactured electric vehicles. In their meeting, Xi also talked up deepening commercial ties between China and Spain in sectors such as artificial intelligence, digital economy, new energy and other high-tech fields. The Chinese leader said Beijing wanted to work with Brussels to further develop a China-EU relationship where the two maintain their independence and autonomy but also succeed together and bring benefit to the world, a Chinese readout said.  "It is hoped Spain will continue to play a constructive role in this regard," Xi added.  Sanchez responded: "Spain wants to work constructively so that relations between the two are closer, richer and more balanced."  Beijing in June said that frictions with the EU over its plans to impose tariffs of up to 36.3% on its electric vehicles (EVs) could trigger a trade conflict, days after China announced a retaliatory anti-dumping probe into European pork imports.  China in August then raised the stakes by opening an investigation into the bloc's dairy subsidies.  Prior to meeting Xi, Sanchez said at business events that Spain would work for a negotiated consensus to the EV dispute within the World Trade Organization and that a "trade war would benefit no one," a government source said.   Spain in 2023 exported $1.5 billion worth of the pork products that China will investigate, Chinese customs data showed, dwarfing the outbound shipments from the Netherlands and Denmark, which rank second and third.  Spain also sold just under $50 million worth of targeted dairy products to China last year.  But in a promising sign for Spain's pork producers, a separate source with direct access to Xi's meeting with Sanchez said the two leaders had "found harmony and understanding," when asked about possible curbs on Spain's outbound pork shipments.  "The meeting went extremely well," the source said, adding that both defended their positions while seeking agreements.  Fair trade  "We want to build bridges together to defend a trade order that's fair," Sanchez told China's second-ranking official, Premier Li Qiang, before meeting Xi.   Spain had a trade deficit of 17.27 billion euros ($19.07 billion) in the first half of this year, according to government statistics.   Sanchez will also want reassurance that China will not strike back at Brussels by raising its own tariffs on imported large-engined gasoline-powered vehicles, as state Chinese media have suggested it might.   Spain could also be impacted by the Chinese EV tariffs. Last week SEAT-CUPRA's CEO said that an electric vehicle made in China and designed in Spain by CUPRA, which is owned by Germany's Volkswagen, would be "wiped out" if the European Commission followed through with planned import tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles.   Sanchez on Tuesday is expected to meet representatives of SAIC Motor, one of the Chinese automakers most affected by the EU tariffs, and sign a Memorandum of Understanding with greentech company Envision, which is building an EV battery plant in Spain.  "In this increasingly geopolitical and economic context, as you have pointed out, we must work together to resolve differences through negotiation," Sanchez told Xi.  In an advisory vote in July, Spain, France and Italy supported the European Commission's proposal to adopt additional duties on Chinese-made EVs on top of the bloc's standard 10% tariff.   But Beijing has been urging the EU's member states to reject the curbs at a final vote on it in October.   The tariffs would be implemented in addition to the EU's standard 10% import tariff unless a qualified majority of 15 EU members representing 65% of the EU population vote against them.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

VIENNA — U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi hopes to hold talks with new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian by November on improving Iran's cooperation with his agency, he said Monday.  Several long-standing issues are dogging relations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, including Tehran's barring of uranium-enrichment experts on the inspection team and its failure for years to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites.  "He (Pezeshkian) agreed to meet with me at an appropriate juncture," Grossi said in a statement to a quarterly meeting of his agency's 35-nation Board of Governors, referring to an exchange after Pezeshkian's election in July.  "I encourage Iran to facilitate such a meeting in the not-too-distant future so that we can establish a constructive dialog that leads swiftly to real results," he said.  With nuclear diplomacy largely stalled between the Iranian presidential election and the U.S. one on November 5, Grossi said he wanted to make real progress soon.  Asked at a news conference if his reference to the "not-too-distant future" meant before or after the U.S. election, Grossi said: "No, hopefully before that."  IAEA board resolutions ordering Iran to cooperate urgently with the investigation into the uranium traces and calling on it to reverse its barring of inspectors have brought little change, and quarterly IAEA reports seen by Reuters on August 29 showed no progress.  Iran responded to the latest resolution in June by announcing an expansion of its enrichment capacity, installing more centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, at its Natanz and Fordow sites.  At its Fordow site dug into a mountain where it is enriching to up to 60% purity, close to the 90% of weapons grade, it installed two of the eight new cascades, or clusters, of advanced IR-6 centrifuges within days of informing the IAEA of its plan. Two weeks later, it installed another two.  By the end of the quarter, the latest IAEA reports showed Iran had completed installation of all eight new cascades but still not brought them online. At its larger underground site at Natanz, which is enriching to up to 5% purity, it had brought 15 new cascades of other advanced models online.  "What we see is that there is some work, but nothing that indicates a rush to a fast implementation of a big increase in terms of enrichment production," Grossi said.  Iran has stepped up nuclear work since 2019, after then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned an agreement reached under his predecessor Barack Obama under which Iran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of international sanctions.  Western diplomats say there are plans for talks on fresh restrictions should Democrat Kamala Harris win the election.

Beijing — China’s Defense Ministry on Monday announced joint naval and air drills with Russia starting this month, underscoring the closeness between their militaries as Russia presses its grinding invasion of Ukraine. The ministry said the “Northern United-2024” exercises would take place in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk farther north, but gave no details. It said the naval and air drills aimed to improve strategic cooperation between the two countries and “strengthen their ability to jointly deal with security threats.” The notice also said the two navies would cruise together in the Pacific, the fifth time they have done so, and together take part in Russia’s “Great Ocean-24” exercise. No details were given. China has refused to criticize Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year, and blamed the U.S. and NATO for provoking President Vladimir Putin. While China has not directly provided Russia with arms, it has become a crucial economic lifeline as a top customer for Russian oil and gas as well as a supplier of electronics and other items with both civilian and military uses. Russia and China, along with other U.S. critics such as Iran, have aligned their foreign policies to challenge and potentially overturn the Western-led liberal democratic order. With joint exercises, Russia has sought Chinese help in achieving its long-cherished aim of becoming a Pacific power, while Moscow has backed China's territorial claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere. That has increasingly included the 180-kilometer (110-mile) wide Taiwan Strait that divides mainland China from the self-governing island democracy that Beijing considers its own territory and threatens to invade. Based on that claim, the Taiwan Strait is Chinese. Though it is not opposed to navigation by others through one of the world's most heavily trafficked sea ways, China is "firmly opposed to provocations by countries that jeopardize China’s sovereignty and security under the banner of freedom of navigation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing on Friday. Mao was responding to a report that a pair of German navy ships were to pass through the strait this month for the first time in more than two decades. The U.S. and virtually every other country, along with Taiwan, considers the strait international waters.

Washington — Leading terror groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State, once pushed to the brink after years of military pressure from the United States and its allies, have found ways to recover and once again represent a serious and lethal threat, according to a top U.S. counterterrorism official.  The rare public assessment from the acting director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center comes just days before the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida terror attacks on the U.S. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, and emphasized the impact of more recent terror strikes and of technology in galvanizing the terror landscape.  "We are today in the midst of another transformative moment in the global terrorism threat landscape," said the NCTC’s Brett Holmgren, speaking to a counterterrorism symposium in New York.  “Groups like ISIS just a few years ago were at their nadir," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group, also known as IS or Daesh.   But now the U.S. sees “a much more distributed threat, in part because of some of the counterterrorism pressures that have been applied," Holmgren added.   "We see a real proliferation of the threat and really a shift towards, at least for al-Qaida, the center of gravity in parts of Africa,” he said. "You see, frankly, al-Qaida basically [was] kicked out of Afghanistan over the last few years, and they have a very small footprint left there. "You also see the Islamic State and others that have been pushed out of their safe havens in Syria, where they are now deliberately operating in much smaller cells to evade detection," he added.   As a result, the threat posed by al-Qaida and IS to the U.S. are not the same as they once were, according to Holmgren, echoing statements by other top U.S. intelligence officials that while the terror organizations and their affiliates have a desire to strike at the U.S., they are, for now, lacking the ability to do so.  “The capacity and the capability is not there,” Holmgren said, citing sustained counterterrorism pressure from the U.S. and its allies.  Instead, U.S. counterterrorism officials see al-Qaida and IS embracing the online environment to recruit and, in some cases, provide resources to individuals in the West to carry out attacks on their own.  Other nations, however, including some U.S. allies, are not as convinced that the threat from hotspots like Afghanistan and Syria have diminished.  A United Nations report this past July, based on intelligence from member states, argued that al-Qaida has thrived in Afghanistan, benefiting from the protection of the Taliban government while expanding its network of training camps and safe houses.  And U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, said separately in July that the pace of IS attacks in Syria and Iraq is set to double compared to last year.  The political wing of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic forces has issued similar warnings in the past year.  But Holmgren and other U.S. intelligence officials argue the biggest danger, for now, is what al-Qaida, IS and other terror groups can organize online.  U.S. officials see signs that al-Qaida, IS and even Iranian-backed terror groups like Hezbollah have embraced AI, or artificial intelligence, using the technology to produce higher-quality and more targeted propaganda.  And while the use of AI may not be sophisticated, officials say there is evidence it has been effective, both in gaining followers and in using AI-generated voices and images, to help terrorist operatives evade detection.  Additionally, the new push by terror groups like al-Qaida and IS continues to be super-charged by last year’s October 7 Hamas terror attack carried out against Israel in which the group — designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., United Kingdom and European Union — killed about 1,200 people, with another 250 taken hostage.   More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed due to Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas. And a range of terror groups has seized on the conflict to call for attacks against the West.  The Hamas attack sparked a “tectonic shift in the threat environment,” said Rebecca Weiner, the New York Police Department’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism.  “The ripple effects that we have experienced since October 7, that we will experience over the years to come, they're not really ripples. They're waves,” she said, speaking at the symposium in New York. “I don't really expect things to get too much better, unfortunately, in the months ahead.”  The NCTC’s Holmgren called the October 7 attack a “unique flashpoint.”  “That is, in our view, the most consequential event when it comes to violent Islamic extremism in terms of radicalization and recruitment since 9/11,” he said. “It's really remarkable in how it's united these really disparate groups, from neo-Nazis to al-Qaida to Iranian-linked groups.”  There are also fears the AI-enhanced propaganda and recruitment drives have been especially efficient at targeting young adults and teenagers.  “We have a whole new generation of homegrown violent, violent extremists, especially younger individuals and juveniles, to worry about,” said the NYPD’s Weiner. “The younger people who are radicalizing, who [are] unable to incorporate all this information that they're receiving in a digital world and bring that into the 3D context in a way that's safe.

Islamabad, Pakistan — The United Nations rights chief expressed his “abhorrence” Monday at the recent promulgation of “so-called morality laws” in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan that silence women or order them to cover their faces and bodies in public. Volker Türk told a U.N. Human Rights Council session in Geneva that the new laws were implemented alongside bans on Afghan girls attending secondary school, prohibiting female students from accessing university education, and severely curtailing women's access to public life and employment opportunities. “I shudder to think what is next for the women and girls of Afghanistan. This repressive control over half the population in the country is unparalleled in today’s world,” the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner stated. Türk denounced the morality laws as outrageous and amounting “to systematic gender persecution.” He warned that the intensifying curbs on women are “propelling Afghanistan further down a path of isolation, pain, and hardship.” It would also jeopardize the country’s future by “massively stifling its development,” he added. Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of Afghan human rights, also spoke and informed Monday’s session in Geneva that the Taliban had lately barred him from visiting the country to conduct assessments in line with his mandate. He added that the morality law “marks a new phase in the ongoing repression of respect for human rights” since the Taliban regained control of the country three years ago. The 114-page, 35-article law enacted by the Taliban last month outlines various actions and specific conduct that the Taliban consider mandatory or prohibited for Afghan men and women in line with their strict interpretation of the Islamic law of Sharia. The restrictions prohibit Afghan women from traveling without a male guardian, require them to be silent in public, enforce mandatory covering of females from head to toe, including their faces, and forbid eye contact between women and unrelated men. The law empowers the Taliban’s contentious Ministry for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice to enforce it strictly. Ministry enforcers are ordered to discipline offenders, and penalties may include anything from a verbal warning to fines to imprisonment for offenses such as adultery, extramarital sex, lesbianism, taking pictures of living objects, and befriending non-Muslims. Taliban leaders did not comment on Monday’s U.N. assertions, but they have rejected previous international criticism of the morality laws.  Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, recently stated that “non-Muslims should educate themselves about Islamic laws and respect Islamic values" before rejecting or raising objections to them. “We find it blasphemous to our Islamic Sharia when objections are raised without understanding it,” he said. No country has officially recognized the Taliban as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan, citing human rights concerns, particularly the harsh treatment of women. “Any normalization of engagement with the de facto authorities must be based on demonstrated, measurable, and independently verifiable improvements in human rights,” Bennett stressed in his speech Monday, urging the Islamist Taliban to reverse current policies. 

Husband, father, journalist, advocate: Pavel Butorin spent nine long months fighting to secure the release of his wife, U.S.-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, from a Russian prison. His journey shows the challenges American families confront when a loved one is taken hostage or wrongfully detained by a foreign government.

WASHINGTON — Two people who prosecutors say were motivated by white supremacist ideology have been arrested on charges that they used the social media messaging app Telegram to encourage acts of violence against minorities, government officials and critical infrastructure in the United States, the Justice Department said Monday.  The defendants, identified as Dallas Erin Humber and Matthew Robert Allison, face 15 federal counts in the Eastern District of California, including charges that accuse them of soliciting hate crimes and the murder of federal officials, distributing bomb-making instructions and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.  Humber, 34, of Elk Grove, California, and Allison, 37, of Boise, Idaho were arrested Friday. It was not immediately clear if either had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.  The indictment accuses the two of leading a transnational group known as Terrorgram that operates on Telegram and espouses white supremacist ideology and violence to its followers.  Justice Department officials say the men used the app to transmit bomb-making instructions, to distribute a list of potential targets for assassination — including a federal judge, a senator and a former U.S. attorney — and to celebrate people accused in prior acts or plots of violence, such as the stabbing last month of five people outside a mosque in Turkey and the July arrest of an 18-year-old accused of planning to attack an electrical substation to advance white supremacist views.  "I think it would be difficult to overstate the danger and risks that that this group posed," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department's top national security official, said at a news conference.  The pair's exhortations to their followers to commit violence included statements such as "Take Action Now" and "Do your part," according to an indictment unsealed Monday.  "Today's action makes clear that the department will hold perpetrators accountable, including those who hide behind computer screens, in seeking to carry out bias-motivated violence," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, the department's top civil rights official.  The founder and CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was detained by French authorities last month on charges of allowing the platform's use for criminal activity. Durov responded to the charges by saying he shouldn't have been targeted personally.

WASHINGTON — Americans were duped out of more than $5.6 billion last year through fraud schemes involving cryptocurrency, the FBI said in a report released Monday that shows a 45% jump in losses from 2022.  The FBI received nearly 70,000 complaints in 2023 by victims of financial fraud involving bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies, according to the FBI. The most rampant scheme was investment fraud, which accounted for $3.96 billion of the losses.  “The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency, the speed of irreversible transactions, and the ability to transfer value around the world make cryptocurrency an attractive vehicle for criminals, while creating challenges to recover stolen funds,” wrote Michael Nordwall, assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division.  Scammers will often make contact through dating apps or social media to build trust over several weeks or months before suggesting cryptocurrency investing, the FBI said. Once the relationship is built, they convince the targets to use fake websites or apps to invest their money, sometimes even allowing the victims to withdraw small amounts of money early on to make it seem legitimate.  In some cases, those victims are then targeted by bogus businesses claiming they will help the victim recover the cryptocurrency they lost, according to the FBI.  FBI officials say Americans of all ages can be a target of such scams, and should be extremely cautious when presented with investment opportunities from people they’ve never met in real life.

More than 1.2 million Vietnamese immigrants live in the United States, many of them having settled after the Vietnam war. More recently, a new wave of Vietnamese migration has sparked debate in the community about immigration and has become one of the main talking points this election season. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details from Texas, the state with the second-largest Vietnamese immigrant population in the country.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Nairobi, Kenya — The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to renew existing sanctions that prevent the transfer of military equipment to Sudan’s western Darfur region. The pending vote comes as Human Rights Watch calls on the council to expand an existing arms embargo, currently on the restive region, to the rest of the country. The western Darfur region has been the epicenter of Sudan’s current civil war, which pits the Sudanese armed forces, or SAF, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, and other militias against each other. U.N. agencies and rights groups say the parties involved have committed war crimes and other human rights violations during the conflict, which has lasted nearly 18 months. Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Human Rights Watch is urging the council to consider imposing an arms ban on the entire country to stop the ongoing rights violations and the suffering of the people. The Sudanese government opposes expansion of the embargo. Human Rights Watch investigators found that some of the weapons being used in the conflict were acquired after the civil war broke out in April of last year. Jean-Baptiste Gallopin is a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch's crisis, conflict, and arms division. "We based our research on an analysis of photos and videos posted on social media and primarily taken by the fighters themselves, showing them in possession and using equipment such as attack drones, drone jammers, anti-tank guided missiles, as well as truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers systems and mortar munitions," said Gallopin. The rights group’s report shows some of the mortars fired were manufactured in China last year. Companies in Iran, Russia, Serbia, and the United Arab Emirates have also produced some of the weapons used, according to the organization. In 2004, a year after the start of another Darfur conflict between ethnic militias and government-backed militias known as the Janjaweed, the U.N. imposed the arms embargo on Darfur. The embargo originally applied to non-governmental entities and was later extended to all parties in the conflict, including the Sudanese government. Ahmed Hashi is a Horn of Africa political and security commentator. He said the regional and international community is doing little to end the conflict, and said that in fact, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedi, is receiving strong foreign support. "I think the United Arab Emirates and other proxy states are arming Mr. Hamedi. I think that the rebellion inside Sudan is foreign-led. I think that the people who caused the Janjaweed and caused international human rights, international crime are fighting in Sudan. I'm afraid that terrorism will rear its ugly head. It is the tragic human rights issue of the 21st century. And we are all, including me, ashamed as Africans that we have not done anything," he said. The UAE has denied arming the RSF.    Gallopin said imposing an arms ban in one region would not solve the conflict. He said a ban is needed nationwide. "We believe that the existing embargo is not sufficient, that there needs to be a wholesale embargo on the sale of armed and military equipment to the whole of Sudan, because we documented, we and others documented very serious abuses carried out by the warring parties since last year, including widespread war crimes, crimes against humanity. We know we published a report on Darfur showing that ethnic cleansing was committed. And so we think it's urgent for the Security Council to broaden that arms embargo," he said. The group also is calling on the Security Council to condemn governments that are violating the existing arms embargo on Darfur and take urgent measures to sanction individuals and entities that are also doing so.